Rotary printing press



1945- c. A. HARLESS 2,366,331

ROTARY PRINTING- PRESS Filed Oct. 17 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet l m MM Jan. 9 5- c. A. HARLESS ROTARY PRINTING PRESS Filed Oct. 17, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 2" VEN TOR.

Jan. 2, 1945. c. A. HARLESS ROTARY PRINTING PRESS Filed Oct. 17, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY Jan. 2, 1945. c; ss 2,366,331

' ROTARY PRINTING PRESS iled'Oct. 17 1942 4 Sheet-Shet 4 INVENTOR.

Patented J an. 2, 1945" UNITED STATES. v. OFFICE ROTARY Pmn'nNGi-Pnissst Charles Alonzo Harless; Oakv P'arlr, 111.,v assig'nor to The Goss Printing Press-Compa y; Chicago, 111., a corporation of 'lllinols- Application October '17; 1942,. Serial him-462,352.

' Claims. (011101-227) is "provided: a- 'web. guiding means which, illustra- The present invention relatesto new anduseful improvements in web-fed rotary printing presses and. more particularly to an improved web guide controlling the side-lay of the; web.-

The inventionconsists .in the novel construe:

tions, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown anddescribed.

The, accompanying drawings, referred. to. herein and constituting a part, hereof, illustrateone embodiment ofthe invention, and together with.

the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

Ofv the drawings:

Figure 1 is. a diagrammatic view showing a printing press including the. web guide of the.

present invention;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic top plan view of a portion of the printing press showing the run: of"

web;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side elevationvshowing one end of. theillustrative web guideof the present invention;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the parts shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary side elevation of the other end of the web guide;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary end elevation of the parts shown in Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the relation of the guide rollers andweb when the.

ends of the guide rollers are displaced horizontally toshift the web; 7

Figure 8 is a similar view but showing the guide rollers shifted in ahorizontal direction to vary the side-lay of the web; and,

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic view showing thev modified form of the present invention.

The present invention has for its object the provision of a novel and improvedrotary web-fed printing press in which the printing and slitting operations can be registered with a high degree of accuracy. A further object is the provision of an-improved web guide for controlling the sidelay of the web-between the drier andyslitting' means. Still another object is the provision of an;

improved. web guide for controlling the side registerv of a fast moving web of paper ash is fedthrough a printing press.

In accordance with the present inventionthere tively'comprises-axpairof. guide rollers mounted inside frames at'itheir ends, one above the other and theiraxes:staggeredsc that one edge of one groller is vertically: alined with theotherv roller.

Tilt-3771011813,; at oneend;. are mounted; forrfree rotation: by meanszof self l'ali'ningrball; bearings in a fixed: frame member and are I mounted at their other "end in;self alining; ball. bearings. which are carried by ar frame having: motionin a. plane anddirection. normal'tothe runof the web, and'preferably having r compound motionfin'that plane, so that withxaphorizontalrunof web, the one end. of the; rollers I may bemoved. vertically or hori- Zontally; .while keeping-the movable frame at the L samedistancexfromzthe fixedframe. The moveprinted-impression on. the web before thewebis slit. into various ribbons" preparatory to being associated, cut.=and,,if desired, folded The paper often. is irregular and doesnot run true, and is even more irregularafter drying-,so that it has heretofore been difficult to slit the web into ribbons keeping. theslitlines accurately in register with-the printingon. one or both sides. of the web.

The webguide of "the present invention, however, enables the webto be guided and accurately adjustedifor:side lay between thedrier and slitting means;

, Itwillbe understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description' as well are exemplary and explanatory of the'inventionbut are'notrestrictive thereof.

Referring/now in. detail to the illustrative embodiment of the invention as shown in the accompany ng. drawings, there is provided amulticolor rotary web fed perfecting printing unit, of which only. thesecondimpression cylinder Ill and the two color printing-"cylinders I l and l2'are shown. The perfected webl3is dried bypassing through the drier l5 'where it' is subjected to heatv and circulating air'to dry the ink. The drier may be of any convenient. and desired form but is shown as comprising a. gas heated oven like apparatus through'swhichthe web passes adjacent the-gasxburners Hi; The web then passes to the cooling rollers I] and l-8-t which cool the web after which the web is led over side registering roller 20 and under side registering roller 2| prior to being passed to the slitting rollers 24 which slit the web |3 as they bear against roller 25 to form the ribbon 26.

Thereafter the web ribbons 26 are associated, cut and folded as desired by conventional means.

Means are also provided for minutely and accurately variabl positioning one end of each of the rollers 2|! and 2| while maintaining the rollers parallel to each other and by these means the rollers may be moved at one end up or down and forward or back to vary their angular relation to the running web. Preferably, the rollers are moved in a vertical direction with respect to the horizontal web being fed to the roller 20 and from the roller 2|, as this produces a greater side movement of the web than does the horizontal movement of the rollers, although the rollers may be moved in both directions while maintaining their ends in the original plane.

On one of the side frames 30 of .the press is fixed a bracket 3 Ion which are mounted bearing seats 32 and 33 in each of which is mounted a self alining ball bearing 34 by which the end of the rollers 20 and 2| are rotatably mounted and supported. The bearings 34 are so located relatively to the side of the rollers lie on opposite sides of a vertical plane and are both tangent thereto thereby providing a vertical run for the web as it passes from roller 20 to 2|.

At the other end of the rollers, they are rotatably mounted and supported bymeans of self alining ball bearings in bearing seats 31, 38 which are mounted on the other side frame 39 of the press and may be minutely and accurately variably positioned' by movement in a plane which is vertical, or normal to the web. For this purpose there is provided a bracket 40 having upper and lower members 42, 43' extending horizontall from the vertical base member 44 and supporting the vertically extending parallel guide rods 45. J ournalled in the upper and lower members 42, 43 is a threaded shaft 41 having a hand wheel 48 at its upper end and a thrust collar 49 at its lower (and, rod 41 extending parallel to the guide rods 45 and preferably being positioned between them. A yoke-like frame 50 is mounted for vertical movement on the guide rods 45 and this yoke-like frame has laterally extending lugs 52 near its top and bottom which are provided with alined boresto fit the guide rods 45, thereby holding the yoke-like frame 50 against any but vertical movement. At the upper part of the frame 50 is formed a pair of inwardly extending brackets 54, and a similar pair of inwardly extending brackets 55 are provided at the lower portion of the frame 50. Each pair of brackets supports a pair of guide rods '56, all of the guide rods 56 extending parallel to each other and at right angles to the guide rods 45. The bearing seat 31 for the upper roller 20 is provided with a pair of bores by which it is slidably mounted on the upper pair of guide rods 56, while the lower bearing seat 38 is similarly mounted on the lower pair of guide rods 56 thus providing for the horizontal movement of the rollers 20 and 2|.

Means are also provided for minutely and accurately variably positioning the rollers by movement of one of their ends in horizontal direction, and for this purpose a threaded rod 60 is journalled in the upper brackets 54 and a similar threaded rod 6| is journalled in the lower brackets 55, the rods 60 and 6| extending parallel to their adjacent guide rods 56. These guide rods pass through correspondingly threaded apertures in the bearing seats 31, 38 so that rotation of the threaded rods minutely moves the roller end in a horizontal direction.

Rod 60 is held against axial movement by means of the hand wheel 64 at one end and bevelled gears 65 at its other end, while the rod BI is held against axial movement by thrust roller 66 and bevelled gear 61, and rods 60 and 6| are connected together for movement in unsion by means of the bevelled gears 68, 69 mounted on shaft 10 which is journalled in the brackets II also formed integrally with the yoke frame 50.

Thus by rotation of the hand wheel 64, the threaded rods 60 and BI are similarly moved an equal amount to move the end of rollers 20 and 2| in a horizontal direction while maintaining the rollers parallel to each other at all times. Hand wheel 48 serves to raise and lower the rollers, and may be operated independently of the hand wheel 64.

As shown in Figure 2 the web I3 is shown as it is fed to the roller 20, the dot-dash lines indicating the feed of web to the roller 20 when it is being fed in a distorted condition requiring correction of its run by the guide rollers 20 and 2| so that the printing and slitting will be properly registered. The dot-dash lines may also be considered as representing the run of a true web as its side-lay is being varied for proper registration of the web at the slitters.

As shown in Figure 7, the movable end of rollers 20 and 2| has been raised so as to position th rollers at an angle with reference to normal run of web. As illustratively shown in this figure raising of the near ends of the rollers 20 and 2| has positioned the guide rollers so that the web will be shifted toward the near end of the rollers as it passes over it. Figure 8 shows the variable positioning of the rollers 28 and 2| by movement of their near ends to the left and in a horizontal direction, thereby effecting a shifting of th web toward the far ends of the rollers as the web passes over them.

Figure 9 shows an alternative and modified embodiment of the invention in diagrammatic form. As there shown the rollers 20 and 2| ar individually mounted in anti-friction bearings which hold one end of each roller fixed and provide for the relative movement of the other end of each roller. However as shown in this figure roller 20 is rotatably mounted in a fixed position at one end while roller 2| is rotatably mounted in a fixed position at its other end, and means are also provided for simultaneously variably positioning the movable end of each roller while maintaining the rollers parallel to each other.

As shown in detail, the roller 20 is rotatably mounted by its shaft H in a fixed bearing support 12, while the other end of its shaft 7| is rotatably mounted in a movable bearing support by a threaded shaft 14 journalled in a bracket 15 secured to the side frame of the press. Roller 2| is likewise mounted by its shaft 16 in a bearing support 11 which is fixed, and at its other end is mounted in a bearing support 18 carried on and supported by the threaded shaft I9 which is rotatably journalled in the bracket 80. A hand wheel 8| On shaft 82 serves to turn the bevelled gears 83 and 84 meshing with bevelled gears 85 and 86 respectively, gears 85 and 86 being fixed to the threaded shafts 19 and 14 respectively. Thus as hand wheel 8| is turned the movable bearing supports 13 and 18 are simultaneously moved in opposite directions to the same extent thereby maintaining the rollers 20 and 2| parallel to each other as they are variably positioned. In use the web is led over roller 20 and under roller 2| in the same manner as shown in Figures 7'and 8.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific mechanisms shown and described but departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the accompanying claims without departing from the principles of the invention and without sacrificing its chief advantages.

What I claim is:

1. In a web guiding means, the combination of a pair of guide rollers, a pair of relatively movable frame members, one of which is movable normal to the axes of the rollers, means for mounting the rollers in said frame members for rotation about parallel axes and means for minutely variably positioning the movable frame members in directions parallel with the run of the web passing to and from the rollers.

2. In a web guiding means, the combination of a pair of parallel guide rollers, a pair of parallel frame members, one fram member being movable with reference to the other in its own plane, self alining ball bearings by which the rollers are journalled in the frame members, and means for minutely variably positioning the slidable frame member in directions normal to and parallel with the run of web to and from the rollers.

3. In a web guiding means, the combination of a pair of parallel guid rollers, a pair of parallel frame members, one frame member being movable with reference to the other in its own plane,

self alining ball bearings by which the rollers ar journalled in th frame members, and means for minutely variably positioning the slidable frame member in directions parallel with the run of web to and from the rollers.

4.. In a web guiding means, the combination of a pair of parallel guide rollers, a pair of parallel frame members, one frame member being movable with reference to the other in its own plane, self alining ball bearings by which the rollers are journalled in the frame members, and means for minutely variably positioning the slidable frame member in directions normal to the run of webto and from the rollers.

5. In a rotary web printing press having a printing couple, a drier, slitting means and means for guiding the web through the couple, driers, and slitting means, the combination of a pair 'of parallel guide rollers over which the Web passes and means for shifting the rollers to change their angle with respect to the normal run of web, whereby irregularities in the dried web may be compensated for and th side-lay of the web maintained at the slitting means.

6. In a rotary web printing press having a printing couple, a drier, slitting means and means CHARLES ALONZO HARLESS. 

